To Be or Not To Be! What Is A Virtuous Man, Is The Question...

Byron Muhammad was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is now living in Houston, TX. Bro. Byron joined the Nation of Islam in March 1990 and served as Student Secretary and Student Captain in the Nation of Islam. Bro. Byron's professional career has included entrepreneurship in construction and he is now a Clinical Research Associate in the medical field. Bro. Byron's passion includes working with our youth and serving the community. He is now embarking upon a path for the “Get it done” foundation and Do for self entertainment. He loves to share his life experiences with all people but particular emphasis on our youth. 

During Byron Muhammad's interview I asked him the following question, "what does it mean to be a virtuous man?" Below is his answer.

"When one thinks of the word virtuous, normally a picture of a woman comes to mind. Most men are not thought of as virtuous. Men are mostly considered; respectful, courteous, nice, kind and decent, but not virtuous. Why?

Could it be that there are not a lot of virtuous men around? The statement that a lot of women make seems to point in the direction that we don’t have any left, all men are dogs! If we survey the landscape and take an analysis, we can see that the men are missing from the picture. A lot of our men are locked up in prison, no education (knowledge of self and others) and no prospect of a future. Others are just lost in the drive for money and sex. However, all is not lost.

Let’s take a look at the word virtuous. In the book, Choose the right word, by S.I. Hayakawa, on page 84, virtuous implies someone who refrains from immoral behavior. We are taught by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that our problem is Spiritual. We have a moral problem in all communities. Greed is the order of the day, sexism is the order of the day, classism is the order of the day and racism is the order of the day. We could take all of these “isms” that are affecting our communities and conceptualize into two words, immoral behavior.

Immoral behavior stems from a spiritual defect in the human being.

What does this have to do with, “what does it mean to be a virtuous man?” Well, to me a virtuous man is one who sees himself as God sees him; a protector, a producer and a provider. We will call them the 3 P's. First thing is a protector. A man must, at all times, protect himself from outside influences that are not in his best interest. A man without a plan and the ability and will to carry out that plan is a man that is neither this nor that. If he can’t protect his own interest what about someone in his care? We are not just speaking of physical protection, but a man has to have that mental fortitude to withstand whatever he is faced with in his life. A virtuous man will first protect himself, his mother, his sister, his aunt, his female cousin and then protect all women regardless of relations.

The man must then be a producer. He must produce that which is beneficial to himself, his family, his community and then the world. He must produce that which produces a future for his family and his community.

The man must be a provider. A provider is one who supplies a means of subsistence. A provider is not niggardly he shares in his abundance. He is willing to give. A virtuous man is one who loves to provide. This is what is missing in our communities, virtuous men. A man that is willing to give his all for the benefit of himself, his family, his community and then the world. This man would love to keep his woman virtuous and modest. A woman could not help herself but to be modest in the community of a virtuous man. Furthermore, a man could not help himself in the company of a virtuous and modest woman. In that type of environment, the children would grow up to be an example of what they see."

Thank you Bro. Byron for taking time out of your day to share your knowledge with us and allowing me to feature you on my blog! I pray Allah (God) continues to bless you in your endeavors!

The Itsy Bitsy Truth

What is the itsy bitsy truth? I believe we all know that itsy bitsy pertains to something that is small so the itsy bitsy truth in regards to modesty is the less clothes you wear the more you objectify yourself.  Now, let's talk about this video.

First, I would like to point out that although the swimwear she makes is a bit more modest than a bikini it is still not modest but there is truth in what she is saying. For instance, when she talks about the study that was done at Princeton University, kudos to Princeton by the way, the results of that study exposed some interesting facts. One of which was when a woman is "scantily clad", meaning inadequately clothed, half-clothed, under clothed or not wearing clothing, it triggers the part of the males brain that has to do with tools. Well,what do you do with tools? You use them. Don't a lot of women complain about men using them and only seeing them as an object? Let's continue, the study also showed that the activity in the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is associated with pondering another person's thoughts, feelings and intentions completely shuts down. So it is scientifically proven that the less clothes you wear the less a man is able to think as a human being therefore he doesn't treat you like one. There was another study that proved when men saw images of women who were modestly dressed they were seen as someone to connect with and not someone to be used.

Some of you may be thinking, "why do I have to base my actions on what men think or how they feel!?" Well, to completely disregard the male population is not practical. Ignoring modesty actually plays right into the hands of the majority of the male population. Modesty forces men to acknowledge your character and interact with you as a person. Males are thrilled to see you walking down the street improperly dressed. That means that there is less work for them. That's where game comes in, where the goal is for you to think they are decent so they can get what they want. They are not thinking about you on a spiritual and emotional level. You advocate, meaning publicly support, such behavior by the way you dress. Do all men run game? No. But the men who don't are most likely looking for a woman that is on their level, a woman who is modest in her dress and in her thinking.

"Dress how you want to be addressed."

I encourage everyone, both men and women, to give their opinion on this topic and the previous topics. Just post a comment right below this article! Please keep your comments respectable and refrain from using any profanity. Thank you so much everyone for all of your support, it is greatly appreciated!

The Oppression of Muslim Women

Let's talk about the men and women who are known all over the world for their modesty, muslim men and women, in particular the women. Muslim women are required and are supposed to dress modestly meaning our hair should be covered, our clothing isn't supposed to be form fitting and our feet should be covered as well. Now, some of you may be thinking "oh my god, they are doing the most," but if you think about all of the creeps who have foot fetishes, who make disrespectful comments about your form when you walk by, it's really for the best.

There are a lot of ideas out there about how modesty affects muslim women. Some people say that we're oppressed, that the men control the women and force modesty onto the women, when that is far from reality. Modesty is something that is enforced by God to protect ALL women not just muslim women. Nun's are required to do the same. There's a scripture in the bible that says, "I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God." - 1 Timothy 2:9-10 It also says in 1 Peter 3:3-4 that "your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." The purpose of wearing the scarf is not to oppress women, it is to protect us from not only men but ourselves as well. We as women tend to put too much of our worth in our appearance and as a result we lose sight of what, or shall I say who is really important, God. If you cover your hair and body, what are you left with? What does your spirit look like?

When women wear tight clothing, whether it's consciously or subconsciously, they want to attract a man. Why do you think women turn around to look in the mirror? Y'all know what I'm talking about. The purpose is to sexually attract a man, when you wear that type of clothing. As a woman, you are going to naturally attract a man regardless of what you wear BUT you have to consider the type of attention you're attracting. Why do you want to attract that kind of disrespectful attention to yourself? Einstein once said, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If men keep making disrespectful comments and advances towards you why would you wear that same dress or type of clothing and expect another man to react differently? A person who will remain anonymous once said to me, "I respect myself, I don't want a man to look at me or touch me but I can still look cute" this was in regards to a dress she wore that showed entirely too much cleavage and was way too short. How can you expect a man whose God given nature is to be attracted to a woman to not look at you when you're on display? That's insane! That's like holding food in front of someone's face, that you know is hungry and expect them not to ask for some or eat it. It's simple, if you don't want to be seen in that light, don't show it! If you carry yourself as a Qween, you will attract a King.

I encourage everyone, both men and women, to give their opinion on this topic and the previous topics. Just post a comment right below this article! Please keep your comments respectable and refrain from using any profanity. Thank you so much everyone for all of your support, it is greatly appreciated!